Laois community volunteers using ride-on mowers forced to get motor insurance

Laois owners of ride on lawnmowers now have to fork out for motor insurance to cut their own lawns, or even do a good deed and cut the grass for their local cemetery.

A recent EU law change means that anybody using a ride-on lawnmower or a quad has to have motor insurance.

Councillors expressed disbelief in the rule at Laois County Council's March meeting of the Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District.

Cllr Ben Brennan reported what a council official had told him on it.

"Ride on mowers need motor insurance according to Ken Morley. It's a mechanically propelled vehicle.  How can that work for someone volunteering?" he said.

Cllr James Kelly said that there are a lot of Laois cemetery committees applying for maintenance grants.

"It is a matter for each one to provide insurance cover as well," he said.

Cllr Paddy Bracken is on the Mountmellick cemetery committee.

"We have our own insurance and the cemetery is council owned. It's a few hundred euros," he said.

Motor insurance companies state that ride on lawnmowers are classed as mechanically propelled vehicles under the Road Traffic Act.

However until recently the mowers were exempt from motor insurance cover if they were used exclusively on private grounds without access by motor vehicles, such as residential gardens.

However a recent European Directive has changed the legal requirements of motor insurance. The area of use of the vehicle is now inconsequential, so any ride on lawnmower in operation requires motor insurance.